Live Trapping Snowshoe Hare

[dogpaw]

Iam trying to live trap some Snowshoe Hare for my beagle training pen. I have the Williams cage traps 11x11 openings and have been baiting with apple and popple bud oil, they are all around the trap but won,t go in. I have the traps all brushed in with fir boughs but they won,t commit. I figured a rabbit wouldn,t be that hard to catch i,ve been trapping 35 years but maybe i,ve met my match. I,ll take any help I can get. thanks

[trappnman]

ran snowshoes many times with my beagles, but never tried to box trap any.

I have trapped bunnies though- try using fresh twigs and buds. I found fresh apple twigs to wrok well. Apple itself loses its appeal (LOL unintended) quickly I found, where twigs attracted longer.

seems odd though that one doesn't go inside- I'd think it would look perfect.

[irnhdmike]

Used to make traps from scrap wood. Don't remember the dimensions bot I think around 6"wide by 10" ' high. Used a simple figure 4 type trigger with a pan inside trap. I wish I could help more but I had a friend who made the traps. No problem to get rabbits to go in. Put your box right on the trail so rabbit has to go thru. Never founfd bait necessary but apple is as good as anything. Try and find the MAIN trials. The more snow there is the better success you will have. They took our live trapping for rabbits away from us a few years back. Hope this helps.

[dogpaw]

Thanks fellas never thought of setting in the trails or the apple tree twigs same thing this morning they wouldn,t go in.

[musher]

Snowshoes aren't rabbits.

Something that I saw, which worked, was a giant rat trap design with burlap over the kill bar frame. It was baited with cedar. The hare goes to get the cedar and, since the trap is so big, the burlap cover encloses the animal.

A snare with a stop also works but you will lose/damage a % of hare.

[frenchman]

Musher,

Guys out west doing studies on them use Peanut butter for bait.

Same for research guys trapping near Sept-Iles, Quebec.

Set by trails, never heard of anybody covering the livetrap but it should not hurt, maybe even help.

[trappnman]

musher- you saying snowshoes don't eat apple bark?

[wcollinge2000]

I have used ear corn before seemed to work well enough for me.

[dogpaw]

Thanks again fellas, I,ll be trying again after this storm is over we got about 10 of new snow. I,ll let you fellas know how things worked out.

[musher]

trappnman said:

musher- you saying snowshoes don't eat apple bark?

I have no idea. I do have a few apple trees in the yard and snowshoes come regular. They've never chewed a tree - yet! It's a sure thing that they are the only apple trees around! They do like apples.

Peanut butter? That's interesting. It was my favourite squirrel bait. I've never had a hare go to the rat trap. This year my son used whole peanuts in the shell. It REALLY worked quickly. He also caught several mice, which was a first. A few of the mice were several feet up a tree.

[trappnman]

full blown trees don't get hit by rabbits here, but new seedlings sure do, as do branch trimmings.

do you have sumac by you? Sumac is probably the #1 wild woody shrub preferred by our cottontails.

[Hornhunter]

do you have sumac by you? Sumac is probably the #1 wild woody shrub preferred by our cottontails.

Scattered patches of sumac, but can't say I've ever seen where snowshoes have chewed on it.. We don't have cottontails this far north.

[trappnman]

interesting.

Here sumac is a primary food source for both bunnies and deer in the winter.

we have a few jacks, and I've seen an occasional snowshoe, but to get into reliably snowshoe country its 125 miles or so north.

up there, there aren't many bunnies (cototntails), but you run into pockets here and there. I've had good bunny hunting up around Grand Marais (way up on the Arrowhead) in certain areas.

[wbg]

A Friend of mine has great luck using carrots and lettuce set up as a feed station with trail leading into the trap, hare's feed their way in.